The floods with heavily raised water levels broke out around the city of Mthatha in the Eastern Cape Province, about 80 miles south of Johannesburg, on Tuesday last week with thousands of homeless as a result.
Rescue efforts are still ongoing and the number of confirmed dead may continue to rise.
South Africa's president Cyril Ramaphosa visited the area for the "catastrophic tragedy" on Friday and said that the flooding of the river, which was then over four meters high, was due to climate change.
Floods are a recurring problem in the southeastern parts of South Africa. In 2022, over 400 people died according to official confirmations in floods near the city of Durban after heavy rainfall.
